


Before You Leave

by Claudina



Series: Home is Where the Honey is [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: M/M, shameless fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-30 00:40:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10865460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Claudina/pseuds/Claudina
Summary: Café Leblanc was one thing Goro ever knew that was closest to a home, and he learned to be all right with that.





	Before You Leave

**Author's Note:**

> To be honest, writing fluff is neither my forte nor something I imagined I'd do when I felt like writing a Shuake fic. Nonetheless, here I am with a shameless fluff, because plans don't usually work anyway (though it won't stop me from keeping planning everything to a T). I hope you enjoy this, and feedback will be cherished dearly :)

Goro Akechi never quite planned to find home, but he somehow did anyway.

Café Leblanc with all its quietness and lethargy seemed like the furthest thing Goro would call home, but after paying a few visits to the coffee shop, Goro found himself more and more at ease within its sombre walls. It was strange how the café’s muted existence stood out amidst the blurry, hurried vignettes of his life, but Goro couldn’t find a good reason to complain if he wanted to.

It was the one thing he knew that was closest to a home, and he had learned to live with that. To be okay with that.

“You again.”

Goro couldn’t help but smile when he heard the voice. Akira looked up from the glasses he was wiping and before Goro could even cook up something witty as a reply to his earlier remark, Akira had gone and asked, “The usual?”

“You know the one,” Goro replied with a wider smile before taking his place by the counter. His briefcase rested against the bar stool, a stash of secrets that could wait until tomorrow or maybe the week after. Akira nodded curtly, then picked the coffee syphon and started to grind Goro’s favourite coffee blend.

The speakers on the wall played that same song again tonight, and while Goro waited for his drink, he absently hummed along to the soft, languid tunes that he already knew all too well by then. The soft drawl made him close his eyes, relishing the beautiful harmony that soothed the white noise inside his mind. There was something about the place that hypnotised him, sending him into a trance, allowing him to forget about how the world crumbled outside.

Akira set the cup in front of Goro and the brunette grinned at him. “Thank you,” he mentioned before picking the spoon up and giving the drink a gentle stir. The coffee aroma wafted up from the vortex; it was delicious and comforting. Goro’s senses had long been dulled by his indifference towards most of the things in his life, but when the scalding liquid hit his tongue, his taste buds sprang to life. A smidgen of cocoa, subdued by a sharp tang of fruity flavour that hid beneath a full, creamy texture. A hint of cinnamon and a little peppering of nuts, both sweet when juxtaposed against the bitter background of his brew. Goro sighed appreciatively, content that the deliberate sip was as delicious as he had hoped for it to be.

What he didn’t hope for was to catch Akira staring at him intently with a little smirk on his face. He was clearly amused by the way Goro dramatically sipped his coffee and the brunette felt his cheeks turning warm. Must have been the hot, boiling, steaming coffee…right?

Before he could stop himself, Goro blurted out, “I like it here.”

It was a silly thing, because he didn’t have to give a justification to counter a wordless accusation, but the words had slipped out of his mouth and he couldn’t swallow them back. To his relief, Akira just nodded silently as he turned his attention to the glasses he was previously drying. For a while, there was only sound of cups clinging against the counter and the music from the speaker. The other person who was sipping his hot chocolate had left and there were only the two of them around. It was getting a little late, after all, and it was definitely not a suitable hour to indulge in caffeinated beverages. The clock’s arms inched closer to the café’s closing hour, but neither of them paid attention to those.

With Akira keeping quiet and busying himself with his barkeeping duties, Goro found himself alone with his thoughts. He absently stirred the remaining coffee in his cup as he spaced out. He thought of the apple cake he ate after school today. Then, his mind wandered to last weekend, when he got himself a couple boxes of pancake mix when he passed by a supermarket. From there, it took a trip a little further back in time, to a time when he got his first straight A’s at school. The thoughts kept unravelling, each one leading back to memories long buried, but all of them were beautiful.

They were all happy thoughts—the ones which hid in fear when Goro was alone at his apartment, lonely and wrapped in self-loathing. Here, within the safe confines of Café Leblanc, the lighter side of him could somehow breathe. There had to be something in the cuppa. Or in the air.

Or in the boy in front of him, who was observing him as Goro lost himself in his mind, eyes clouded by melancholy that was too heavy for just two shoulders to bear.

“Akechi.”

Goro blinked and quickly pulled himself tightly back together, eyes focusing on the source of the voice that called his name. His coffee had gone cold by now. Goro looked up at Akira, who was looking at him knowingly yet again.

“It’s closing time,” Akira informed as the clock chimed to second his statement. Goro glanced at his wristwatch and groaned. It was getting a little too late and he should start making a move if he wanted to return in time to his place.

But _that_ was merely a house, and _this_ felt like home, and if he had a choice, he would never want to leave.

Was there a way to express that without saying anything?

Akira didn’t know what drove him to say the words but when he saw that Goro was hesitating to move, he muttered quietly, “If you’re willing to move to one of the booths, you can spend the night here and catch the train tomorrow morning instead.” He quickly added, “After all, there’s no school tomorrow, right?”

Goro blinked. It was indeed late and he didn’t feel like running to the train station to catch the train back to his place, and a warm invitation suddenly presented itself in front of him. Was it universe listening to him for once? Was it a short-circuit in this boy’s brain, causing him to go a little insane?

Was it that someone finally wanted him around, problematic and wounded as he was?

He didn’t think he wanted to know, so Goro simply slid off the bar stool and moved over to the booth nearest to the staircase. Akira picked the coffee cup up and washed it before he started cleaning up and closing the shop for the night.

“Don’t mess with the bar while I’m gone,” Akira informed as he untied his apron. Goro couldn’t help but smile. It must have been the caffeine in his system, but he felt that he was growing fond of Akira a little more tonight. He then laughed, the sound of which fit the place like it had always belonged there to begin with.

“Don’t worry, I’ll wake you up if I want more coffee.”

Akira grinned mischievously. “You know that Morgana will claw your eyes out if you do so, right?”

The two boys looked at each other meaningfully before sharing a small laughter, the last one for the night. When he opened his eyes again, Goro found himself staring at Akira and he blushed a little.

“You can wake me up in the morning before you leave,” Akira said. He then stretched and started climbing up to the attic where he slept. A fleeting thought passed Goro’s mind, a tiny curiosity to know how the attic looked like, but he kept it to himself and scooted a little to the centre of the booth.

“All right.”

“Good night, Akechi.”

“And good night to you too, Kurusu.”

Once Akira vanished from his sights, Goro rested his head on the table and watched the dim streets outside the café’s windows as he drifted to slumber. The hard table wasn’t the best pillow in the world, but sleep found him easily, gentle and calm, for this was the place his body felt most at ease in. As the world outside crawled towards the next day’s morning light, Goro sank deep into a dreamless sleep, and when he woke up, it felt like a distant memory, a little warmth that wrapped him tightly, making him feel that maybe, just maybe, there was still hope for someone like him.


End file.
